Performing Colonial War

Abstract

Abstract By the late 1950s, a new generation of dramas about uneasy soldiers, cracked-up interrogators, and traumatized families were crowding theater stages and television screens. Abandoning the usual propaganda pattern, these dramas showed inner life threatened by the violence of imperialism rather than insurgency; instead of adventure and romance, they drew their tension from ethical dilemmas and guilty consciences. But while some dramas inverted the values of old-fashioned imperial adventures, by casting yesterday’s heroes as today’s villains, many more embraced moral ambiguity, by showing characters trapped within a tradition they did not create. Dwelling on the grim inescapability of violence was less a call to action than a form of catharsis, allowing audiences to indulge their uneasiness about futile and ugly wars.